Saturday, May 5, 2007

The winds haven't seemed to favor migration the last few days, but even so, there was obvious turnover in the migrants present today (Saturday May 5) at the Magee Marsh boardwalk (Lucas Co., n.w. Ohio). I was leading a group that was focused on warbler I.D. so we moved pretty slowly, concentrating on looking closely at individuals rather than trying to rack up a big list, and we spent most of our time near the west end of the boardwalk and inside the woods, out of the strong east-northeast winds. Warblers that hadn't been evident earlier in the week included Black-throated Blue (at least 4 males), Am. Redstart (at least 1 male), and Magnolia (at least 2 males, although I know one was reported a couple of days ago). There were at least 6 to 8 Ovenbirds around, suggesting that a wave of them had arrived (or maybe a micro-wave). Black-and-white Warblers seemed scarce compared to earlier in the week. Cape May Warblers are still present in good numbers (we saw at least 6), there are still a few Pine Warblers including a singing male, and male Black-throated Greens are still foraging near the boardwalk. The four most common warbler species today were Nashville, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and Palm.

Numbers of Ruby-crowned Kinglets had dropped dramatically from earlier in the week (we saw dozens, but not hundreds), numbers of White-throated Sparrows were reduced, and thrushes were virtually absent. Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Baltimore Oriole are around in numbers (at least 10 of each). Stragglers well past the peak of their migration for here included a Brown Creeper and a few Rusty Blackbirds.

Crane Creek, Magee Marsh, Black Swamp: where are we?

Birders all over North America have heard of "the boardwalk at Crane Creek" as a fabulous place to see migrants, while locals more often refer to "the Magee boardwalk." The confusion is understandable. The famous boardwalk is actually on the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, while the adjacent beach and half the parking lot were until recently part of Crane Creek State Park; the latter areas were turned over to the Ohio Division of Wildlife on May 1, 2008. The creek itself --Crane Creek--flows into Lake Erie just west of the boardwalk, on Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Our bird observatory is named for the Great Black Swamp, which used to cover much of northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana. On these pages I refer to "the Crane Creek -Magee Region" as a general term for the Lake Erie shoreline between Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio.